Here you will find things about fitness and nutrition, mainly (but not exclusively) in relation to the Beachbody programs like P90x and Insanity. And, I will start adding reviews for Books, DVDs and Blu-Rays, and other products. All views and opinions on this blog are my own.
Welcome
Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.
I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.
I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time. As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Visions - Ronin
Monday, June 26, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Padawan
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Path of Vengeance
Path of Vengeance is the latest book in the early High-Republic era novels. It is a follow-up to the novels Path of Deceit and Battle of Jedha. This book brings back the characters of Marda and Yarna Ro (one of whom is likely the mother of the leader of the Nihil, who are the main antagonists of the later High-Republic era) who are essentially on opposite sides of a civil war in the Path of the Open Hand.
In this book, the Path retreats to the planet Dalna. The Mother throws The Herald under the bus for the violence on Jedha and dispatches a team to Planet X to get more Leveler eggs so that she can have an army of Levelers to fight the Jedi. The Jedi track down the Path just as the team returns with the eggs, and another battle ensues.
The book is one of the longer young-adult novels. It is just over 500 pages, but it is a fairly easy read and the story flows very well. I am a fast reader and got through it in about five hours. The book brings a conclusion to the novels that were set before it and provides a good reset point from which to bridge the two eras of the High Republic. The only real issue I have with the early High-Republic novels is that it presents a bit of a continuity issue as the Leveler is unleashed by the Nihil on the Jedi in the novels set during the later High-Republic era, and the Jedi do not seem to have any idea what is attacking and killing them. Yet, the Jedi in this era absolutely know about the creature, and so Yoda and Yaddle should know what it is in the later books. That said, the story in this book is still very good and it is definitely one of the canon novels that you should read if you only read some, but not all, of the novels.
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Path of Deceit
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Quest for Planet X
Friday, June 2, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Quest for the Hidden City
Friday, May 26, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars Mission to Disaster
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Skywalker: A Family at War
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars Stories of Jedi and Sith
Friday, May 5, 2023
Video Game Review: Star Wars: Fallen Order
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Cataclysm
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars Timelines
"Timelines" is what I would describe as a coffee table book. It is not a novel that people are likely to read word-for-word, cover-to-cover. It basically summarizes the Star Wars canon, incorporating material from the novels, comics, video games, animated series (e.g., Rebels, Clone Wars, and Bad Batch), live-action series (e.g., The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Book of Boba Fett), and the movies. The book has multiple "main" timelines that set out events in relation to The Battle of Yavin when Luke blew up the first Death Star. The first timeline summarizes the early history, starting about 25,000 years before the Battle of Yavin (abbreviated BBY). Then the last timeline is the rise of the First Order, which ends with the battle of Exegol (basically the end of The Rise of Skywalker movie) 35 years after the Battle of Yavin (abbreviated ABY).
Each of the main timelines has several "sub-timelines" that flesh out details of events that happened in the main timelines. For example, in the Fall of the Jedi timeline, events like Order 66, Obi-Wan and Anakin's battle on Mustafar, hiding Luke and Leia, etc., are all detailed. The sub-timelines for the High Republic timeline summarize the events in the various High Republic novels, such as the hyperspace disaster. The sub-timelines also provide short character profiles for the various characters, and the major characters like Anakin, Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, etc., get their own dedicated timeline that summarizes the major events in their lives.
Overall,
the book is good. As I said above, it is not one that most people (aside from
the most die-hard of die-hard fans) are likely to read in full, and definitely
does not read like a novel. But, if you are one of those people who does not
read all of the books or have not played the video games (like Fallen Order),
it has some of the detail and information on some of the characters that you
may not be familiar with. Also, it does not include the events of the most
recent seasons of The Bad Batch and the Mandalorian, since it was written
before those were completed. But otherwise, it is very comprehensive and is worth
getting for anyone who is more than just a casual fan.
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Convergence
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars - The Battle of Jedha
Friday, March 17, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Book Review: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil (Ascendancy Trilogy Volume III)
Monday, February 20, 2023
Book Review: Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good (Ascendancy Trilogy Volume II)
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Book Review: The Empire Strikes Back Novelization
This is a pretty straightforward novelization of the movie. It does not change the story at all but does have some dialogue changes here and there. Usually, what ended up in the movie is better than what was in the book, so the dialogue was changed for the better in the movie screenplay. The book is very short, much shorty than the novelizations of the prequel and sequel trilogy movies, and can easily be finished in a day or two.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars
Friday, February 10, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: The Rebel Files